Dog Tags
by meadow567
Summary: Oneshot: What happened to Jake's dog tags?


This is my attempt at a one shot. I hope all of you enjoy it. I'm hoping it doesn't suck. I got the idea about Jake's dog tags and what would have happened to them after he became a Na'vi.

Disclaimer: I wish I came up with the story, but sadly I didn't. It belongs to Mr. Cameron.

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The silver plate tags shined somewhat in the luminescent light that came from the Tree of Souls. Compared to the blue palm that held them, the tags seemed a lot more polished than they really looked, and they were smaller. The palm enclosed them, and the chain made the clink noise when the sides touched. Jake Sully sighed and leaned into his fist, thinking about what to do with his dog tags. Looking over at the spot where the Omaticaya were planning on burying his old body, he just stared at the still form.

"My Jake," Neytiri quietly said when she walked up to him a few minutes later. "What is troubling you?" She rested a hand on his shoulder while kneeling beside him.

Jake opened his hand and showed her his dog tags. "My identification tags," he only told her, before looking at the body again.

Neytiri's confused look on her face, led to her next statement, "I don't understand."

Jake only smiled. As much as he learned about the Na'vi in the past three months, the Na'vi still needed to learn a lot about the Sky People… the good ones. This even meant the Warriors that actually helped and wanted to learn themselves without some asshole or system telling them what to do or think. When they went to Hell's Gate after the battle, there were at least six marines that were found hiding because they didn't want to destroy the culture. Neytiri found that perplexing, but after the men and women were taken to get some food, he explained that they weren't like Quaritch or his minions.

Neytiri asked, "Do the sky people get lost in your old world?"

Jake looked over at her with an amused look. "No. Did Grace ever tell you how many sky people there are?"

Neytiri shook her head. "I know there is plenty."

"Plenty is… an understatement."

Neytiri's head tilted sideways. Whenever she did that, the look reminded Jake of a cat. "She said there are more than twelve clans."

Jake nodded. "Yes." The last time the number had been given out there was at least ten billion humans. That included the ones on the Moon, Mars, Pandora, and the space crafts that were flying back and forth.

"Tell me."

Jake made it look like he had to think about the numbers. "Oh…" he blew some air out, making his cheeks become round. "…compared to the thousands of Na'vi, there are… about ten billion humans. Two hundred different countries with their own cultures… clans and those clans can have many clans, and even within those… more."

Neytiri's eyes were wide and her mouth hung open. "Keye'ung!" She stood up, looked at the night sky, but didn't do anything else. "How can there be so many?"

Jake stood up and wiped his free hand across his chin. When Grace had been alive, he only asked her the important information about the clan. He's been wondering how much Grace and the teachers taught the Omaticaya. Max probably didn't know because he came to Pandora after the school was taken out. Did they mention the million of years of life on Earth? Did they explain how some believe there are many Gods? The scientists that he knew believed in evolution, should he even try to explain that?

In the beginning, when Quaritch had asked him to spy, he didn't give a shit. He stopped caring when he ended up crippled. As time went on with the Omaticaya, all he ever knew faded and he slowly began to care about life again. After he began to fall in love with this world he knew he should have stopped the attack way before it happened, but he had become nervous to do it. Quaritch was a big, insane guy. Who knows what would have happened if he had told him to fuck himself and the RDA.

Neytiri seeing the look on Jake's face, decided to sit down. She invited him to sit. "Come. Explain. You say nobody gets lost. If there are so many, how is it not so? How are there so many clans?"

"Earth…" he started to say when he took the spot that she gestured to. He was back in deep thought, and he didn't know where to begin. Maybe he should form tsahaylu, but would that explain everything if his mind didn't know where to begin? It could show images. "Earth… has been around for millions of years. I know… or actually knew someone who thought we came from other alien beings. Like we were planted on the earth like ants… which are small, really small bugs that move through the ground."

"Like the Eltungawng?"

Jake shook his head. "Ants are about the size of a seed." He lifted his hand up and put his thumb and finger together. Neytiri smiled. "Anyway, the girl believed we weren't the only life out there." Of course, he pointed to her as well. "Humans… Sky People… at least the ones who can afford it… make moving images. They can capture a moment on a camera." He gestured with his hands moving them around like he was filming.

Neytiri laughed at that. Jake thought she was thinking he was a moron. "Nobody back at the base knows this, but I have a copy of this movie called Lord of the Rings. It's a series, but it is my favorite. Maybe I can show you it," Jake told her, smiling. The smile faded, and he ended up looking serious.

Neytiri put a hand on his shoulder. "What is it?"

"Before I met you, I didn't let anybody in. I was hard to get along with. When I ended up loosing my legs, I didn't care about life. I was depressed. If I didn't have my legs, what did I have? I wanted my life to end."

Neytiri lifted her hand and put two fingers on his lips, silencing him. "You mentioned the battle you were in. That is the past. You have changed, you see now." Jake smiled against her fingers. "You were saying?"

Jake tried to remember where he left off. "In the late nineteen nineties … one hundred and sixty something years ago, some were interested in making movies where Alien life forms would show up and wipe the sky people out."

Neytiri gasped, and her eyes became dark. "Like the bad sky people that left."

Jake put this hand on her arm. "They are ignorant, money grubbing bastards. Not all are like that."

Neytiri stayed quiet for a few minutes to let her anger subside. As she did, she wondered why the sky people had to make those kinds of images. "Then why did they make those… moo-vees?"

Jake tried to explain. "It was for the entertainment of it all. Some back then enjoyed watching the destruction of earth through film." Neytiri had a disgusted look on her face. "There were a few movies where the alien life forms came and showed us their way of life or they wanted us to teach them."

"I have thought sky people are an interesting kind," Neytiri remarked.

"Quite a few believe there are more beings out there. My country, the people in charge, won't even come out and say there are even if we've seen them. Even after we discovered this planet, they still deny it. These beings haven't exactly come down themselves, but people have seen their space crafts." He grew quiet for a moment. "It's amazing that they haven't in all these years."

"Maybe they can see how the people treat each other and are scared to show themselves," Neytiri replied. "Afraid to be attacked themselves."

Jake nodded thinking about it. Jake was wondering if starting off explaining alien life was the best way. "I wonder if any of the women scientists on base have any girlie films. Films that make you feel good after. Not at of these movies are about destruction. Some are about love and finding it." He put his hand on her back and started to caress it lightly.

Neytiri smiled, and her skin turned a little darker. Looking around, there were no others in sight. She turned back around and kissed him. They kept on kissing for another few minutes. When they parted, their foreheads were the only parts touching.

"Oh!" Jake exclaimed destroying the silence. "Star Wars and Star Trek!"

Neytiri was confused. "What?"

"I wonder if anybody has them," he murmured. "Star Wars is about a galaxy full of different creatures. I've only seen them a couple of times."

Neytiri nodded. "Do the sky people still make these kinds of images still?"

"Not as much. Earth isn't green anymore. It's been destroyed by the RDA. It's gray and dull. Countries are fighting because the leaders want what they can't have."

"Sometimes that happens here. Battles haven't been seen in many years, but they do happen," Neytiri remarked.

Jake looked down at his hand again. "The Marines… the jarhead clan… isn't the only branch. There are different warrior groups. When one joins these clans, they get a metal plate with their information placed on it. If one is badly injured during a battle and they die, the others will then know who you are with the information."

Neytiri reached out and took the dog tags. In order to see the writing on it, she had to put them close to her face.

Sully

Jacob A, B+

873555260

USMC, M

"Jay-cob," she tried to say.

"Jacob is my full name, Jake is my nickname. My brother Tommy… his full name was Thomas. Norm…his is Norman."

Neytiri shook her head. "Sky people… they make things difficult."

"That is why earth is "organized". Did Grace mention the confined spaces where families live together, but separately from other humans?"

"She said that there are many… buildings. No na'ring, no utral, no ioang."

"They died long time ago."

Neytiri looked back down at the tags. She studied them once more. Jake watched her, not disturbing her. "What does 'eh' mean?"

Jake reached out and took them back. He held them close to her to tell her about them. "It means Aaron, which is my middle name. The b plus is my blood type. The numbers are my other type of identity. USMC is the jarhead clan and M is the kind of air filter mask that I had to wear."

"So if the warriors only get these… what about the people who aren't warriors?" Neytiri asked.

Jake put his arm around her shoulder. "That is easy. They get their own type of ID. You know the big trucks that the sky people drove?" Neytiri nodded. "There are cars, trains, buses. Now a day people ride the train. It glides on a metal rail."

Neytiri smiled. "I did not like the sky people. Learning about them through you is interesting. I like hearing these stories from you."

Jake returned the smile. "That's good to know. I was worried that I was telling you about my old world for no reason. That you weren't interested in my babbling."

"No. I'm enjoying it."

Jake looked over at the still body again. "I was wondering if I should put these with him or should I keep them as a reminder." He flipped the dog tags in his hands, making them jingle a bit.

Neytiri watched him play with his dog tags. She didn't know what to tell him. Deep down though, she did think they belonged with the body. It was only his choice, and his choice to make. "You should do what is best." With that, she stood up and walked back to wherever her mother was.

Jake slide one hand through his hair. The answer came to him and it seemed simple. Put them with the body. Standing up, he walked over, and knelt down. He slide the tags over the head, and after he put a hand lightly against his old chest. He thanked the old body before standing up. After he left, he didn't look back.


End file.
